Our Crisis Should Result in Prayer & Praise (Jonah 2)

How do you respond in a crisis? Our choice to run from God often puts us in predicaments! We can keep running from God or start running back to Him. When Jonah hit bottom, he prayed to & praised God. Great challenge to us all.

Praise Report for June 2021

 In Psalm 26, we read, “…I come to your altar, O Lord, singing a song of thanksgiving and telling of all your wonders.” I want to take a few minutes to tell you of the wonders God has been doing here at Grace Church during the month of June.

We are blessed and thankful to be almost fully reopened after the pandemic. The final move to reopen will be to relaunch our AWANA clubs this fall (Sept. 8). People are coming back to worship, groups are gathering for fellowship, and it is good to see people’s faces as they enter the church & join together for corporate worship.

1. In the month of June, God blessed us with:

• 5 people trusting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior
• 5 adults & 2 teenagers taking the step of baptism
• 5 adults completing our membership class and becoming part of our church family.
• Salvations – 5
  
  

2. Music was a BIG part of our ministry in May/June.

• HCA band concert
• HCA choir concert
• Caroline Canning’s senior recital
• Night of Worship for the whole church family

3. We were blessed by our Annual Church meeting.  While that may seem strange to some, our church is of one accord and unified in purpose.

• We exceeded our 2020-21 missions budget and increased our missions budget by $10,000 for 2021-22. 
• We made a few changes in our Bylaws to better serve our people.
• New Deacons and Church officers were elected to serve the body.
• A new budget was passed to help us accomplish the vision God has given to us.

4. “Supper 8” is our effort to connect the adults in our church body and to introduce new families to our church members.  This has been so well received with 90+ adults participating and enjoying meals in each other’s homes.

5. Pastor Duane preached on the Sunday that Flora & I were with our family in Virginia. His message on “Rest” was very much needed by the educators in our church, who have been stretched so thin by hybrid learning during COVID.

6. Our Grace Family kicked-off our summer Sunday nights with “Worship and Watermelon” on June 13. We had not seen rain in months; but that event had to be moved inside, due to the monsoon!  People still came, worshipped, shared testimonies, enjoyed the watermelon and each other’s company.

7. We were blessed to honor the dads of our church on Father’s Day. We recognized men in some humorous categories and gave bright colored socks to the winners! That night, the men and sons of our church gathered for a basketball fellowship in our gym.

8. Our Grace Ladies hosted a craft night that was VERY well attended! They had such a great time painting pottery and making bird houses. You should take time to visit our Facebook page, to see pictures of this event.

9. VBS was back to a normal format this year, although the attendance was slightly lower. We had 300+ participating in the “Treasured” VBS and we also hosted a VBS for adults that was also well attended. Our thanks to Miss Method, all of our volunteers, and the Nicholson’s for directing our adults.

10. Summer Day Camp has been a hit this year with 120+ children enrolled. They are having a great time with trips, daily activities, crafts, games, and so much more. We thank God for allowing us to open up to the public again this summer.

11. We also thank God for the excitement we are seeing as we look toward the fall.

• AWANA returns on Wednesday, Sept. 8
• Our new Equipping-U will also launch with a 4-year discipleship track made-up of 12-16 in-depth classes including: Doctrinal studies, OT Survey, NT Survey, Bibliology and more!
• Our LIFEgroups will become “Connection groups” and some new efforts will be made to connect our church family and revamp our curriculum for more participation.
• We’re also adding a brand new weekly welcome class for our first-time guests.

12. Finally, there is so much happening at Highlands Christian Academy!

• Our enrollment looks GREAT for 2021-2022 with many new students joining our HCA family.
• All of our teaching positions have now been filled and we believe God has brought us some wonderful and exciting educators who are excited about their subjects, but also committed to our “Biblical Immersion” model.

The list of blessings goes on and on! We take no credit and give God ALL the glory for the things HE is doing at Grace and Highlands. We also thank each of our family members, who are embracing the mission and supporting the vision.

Thank you, God, for the wonderful things You did through the people of Grace in June! 

March 2021 Celebration & Praise Report

Thank God for what HE accomplished in and through the people of Grace Church in March 2021...

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.”  Another month and more blessings to thank the Lord for!  Truly HE is good!

March 2021 was a VERY, VERY BUSY month and certainly one for the books!  There was so much happening, so much excitement and so many new people coming to our services. It is so good to see people returning to church and the church once again reaching out to our community!

REFUEL CONFERENCE seems like so long ago, but on Tuesday, March 2, Grace was privileged to be 1 of 6 sites across the country to host the annual REFUEL Conference, sponsored by Thomas Road Baptist Church and Liberty Church Network. Our folks set the bar high as they joyfully served and provided warm hospitality for our speakers and guests; which included: Jonathan Falwell, Tom Mullins, Jimmy Scroggins, Nathan Cline and others. We challenged by the sermons, pastors were encouraged by the breakout sessions, and we were all blessed to be led in worship by Charles Billingsley. Praise God for allowing us such a wonderful opportunity! 

A MARCH MIRACLE FOR OUR MISSIONARY to Papua New Guinea, Dawn Stuart, as she is experiencing something that only God could do. In this time of COVID, when people are fearful, careful and some churches still closed; Dawn has already raised over 50% of her necessary, monthly financial support to get to PNG! This is definitely the hand of God and you can read more on her website – dawn2png.com. 

LADIES COFFEE CONNECTION was held at the pavilion on Saturday, March 13. It is good to see our ladies’ ministry regrouping and gathering for fellowship again. They have also been enjoying a Tuesday night Bible study and will be gathering for the LifeWay Women’s Simulcast on Saturday, April 17. All ladies are welcome! 

HCA DAY AT GRACE was a big hit again for 2021. It’s always good when we can showcase the school ministry to our church families. Dr. Lawrence challenged us with a stark reminder that the world wants to influence your kids and Satan wants to destroy your family. He challenged parents to make the spiritual training of their children a top priority.

EGGSTRAVAGANZA was held on Saturday, March 20 and was a great success with hundreds of children and dozens of volunteers present to hear the story of Easter, followed by 3 massive egg hunts on our campus! It was good to host a community event again and we extend a special “thank you” to Miss Method and all of our wonderful volunteers who made this possible. 

HAITIAN REVIVAL was held in-person on March 21-28, with Pastor Jean Marc preaching nightly. There was special music and many people returned to the house of God. We rejoice with Pastor Jean Marc and praise God for what HE is doing in our Creole services. 

EMPLOYEE EGG HUNT was a lot of fun for our employees as we gathered in the Auditorium and hunted for 400 eggs. Some had encouraging notes such as, “You are a valued employee,” others said, “Not a winner. Try again,” and many were filled with gift cards used to bless all of employees.

NEW MEMBERS CLASS was held on March 28 with 3 people completing the class and making the decision to become part of our Grace family. 

MOST DIVERSE Private High Schools in America 2020 award was presented to Highlands Christian Academy, as selected by and published in K12.NICHE.COM. What a tribute to Grace’s & Highlands’ commitment to reach our community, while celebrating our oneness in Christ!

HCA RECRUITMENT of faculty and students for the 2021-2022 school year is much ahead of schedule from last year. 

HCA HOSTED “SERVE DAY,” as our students cleaned-up, beautified, and landscaped our campus. Thank you to Mr. Smith for coordinating the event and for the hard work put-in by our students!

PAYTON CAJA, a Senior this year at Highlands Christian Academy, was selected the Class 5A-2A Broward County Player of the Year for soccer. This is an amazing accomplishment and HCA’s first player ever to receive this award.  Payton was also selected to play in the Florida Atlantic Coaches Association Senior All Star game. Congratulations Payton! 

PALM SUNDAY was special at Grace this year. Because we added a Saturday night Easter service, we did not host a Good Friday service. Instead, we held a “remembrance” service on March 28 that used Scripture, video & music to focus our minds on what Jesus suffered, so that we could be saved. We concluded the service with communion. It was a wonderful service!

BEST NEWS OF ALL --

• There were several salvation decisions in our English, Creole & Spanish services this month.
• There were also several salvation decisions in our HCA Chapel services.
• But listen to this… Kealey Wik shared the story of the Resurrection Eggs with her 2^nd grade class at HCA and as a result, 8 students invited Jesus to be their SavioR.

Thank you for your faithful giving, faithful service & faithful participation! The support of our Grace family is vital to our ability to do the work of the ministry. BUT, most of all, let's continually give thanks to God for HIS blessings on our church & school ministries!

February 2021 - Celebration & Praise Report

February was an amazing month at Grace!!!  I just have to give praise to God and tell you what HE has done!!

Did you grow-up in or ever attend a church that sang the Doxology?  The Doxology is a short hymn-like chorus that gives praise to God. In years past, churches of various denominations would conclude their services by singing it. Listen to the words:

        Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow

        Praise Him, all creatures here below

        Praise Him above, ye heavenly host

        Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost

That is exactly what I want to do... I want to give praise to God for the blessings HE brought to and through the ministries of Grace Church and Highlands Christian Academy during February 2021.

First, as you know, February is known as the “Love Month;” so Grace capitalized on that theme:

• Pastor Gary has been preaching through a marriage series titled, “LORD of the Rings” and offering biblical counsel for Christian marriages.
• On Sunday, Feb. 14, couples stood across our congregation and renewed their marriage vows. COVID has added much stress to marriage, but with a commitment to Christ and to each other, we are confident that Christian marriages can weather the storms of life.

Other “Love” opportunities were seen each Sunday in February:

• Feb. 7 - we loved-on our community – and collected food, clothing & toiletry items for “The Lord’s Gift House,” a ministry to the homeless in our community.
• Feb. 14 – we loved-on our spouse, family & widows in our congregation.
• Feb. 21 – we loved-on each other, as our Grace family gathered around fire pits; cooked hotdogs and enjoyed making s’mores under the stars.
• Feb. 28 – we loved others as we distributed bread and pastries to the homeless, our friends, and our neighbors. Each loaf/box had a Gospel tract telling people about the Bread of Life.

February also brought us a feeling of some normalcy as we hosted some larger “events.”

• Our children are now meeting in-person and started a new Bible program titled, “Eat this Book.” Dozens of children are attending in-person and Miss Julie is also making the program available online.
• Steve Merritt brought a trio from FBC of Ft. Lauderdale that blessed our church family. We saw many guests in attendance and had our largest 1^st service attendance since the pandemic started.
• Grace also hosted a Winter Bible Conference, which included:
  • Guy Melton from Oasis Church in Pembroke Pines, FL
  • Chris Lane from First Priority of South Florida
  • Michael Chin Quee from Food for the Poor

Each of these men challenged us to look past the pandemic and “renew our passion” to reach people in new, creative and personal ways with good news of the life-changing Gospel.

“Praise God from Whom all blessings flow” for the people who are were saved, baptized, returned to worship and were added to the Grace Church family in the month of February!

We also experienced wonderful blessings in our school ministry - Highlands Christian Academy.

We have truly been blessed under the leadership of Dr. Steve Lawrence and God is blessing us with new leadership for our 2021-2022 school year:

• Mr. Larry Smith with take the reins as our new Head of School
• Mr. Bill Canning will become our new Upper School Principal
• We are also blessed to be adding several new faculty to our staff, which will allow us to bring back several elective classes
  
• In addition, budgeting and recruiting are in warp-speed for next year and look forward to going post-pandemic and seeming growth and enhancements in every area of HCA.

Another BIG achievement was HCA’s celebration of 100 Days of School!

• While many schools have remained closed or online only, HCA started meeting in-person back in August. Our thanks to Dr. Lawrence for his courageous leadership and also to Governor DeSantis for keeping Florida open.

We also want to congratulate our Knights Varsity Boys Soccer Team as the Regional Runners-Up! They had a great season under the leadership of Coach Davidson Loristan and we are so proud of our boys’ performance during this difficult year. We also want to congratulate HCA Senior, Payton Caja, who was selected to the Atlantic Coaches Association Senior All-Star Game on March 13 at Bryant Stadium in Lakeland, FL.

We have so much to celebrate & praise God for!  As Ed Stetzer stated, “The moment we are in; does not pause the mission we are on.” The ministries of Grace Church continue strong and we thank God for protecting us during the pandemic and blessing our efforts to make HIM known across our community!

Jan. 2021 - Celebration & Praise Report

 The Psalmist knew of God’s goodness as evidenced by the words he penned in Psalm 145:6-7, “Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, And I will declare Your greatness. They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, And shall sing of Your righteousness.” As we look back over the month of January and the start of a brand new year, we want to take a moment to remember God’s goodness to the various ministries of Grace Church.

Celebrations & Praises during January in the Church:

• We celebrate a person who came to salvation through a Gospel tract and various other stories of people whose lives are being changed by the Gospel.
• Many guests worshipped with us in January, and we have a good number of people expressing interest in baptism and church membership.
• We emphasized “Sanctity of Life” Sunday on Jan. 17 and hosted a baby shower for the moms who choose life through Hope Women’s Centers. A special “thanks” to our Grace family for responding with such generosity!
• We recognized School Choice Sunday and reminded folks that Highlands Christian Academy is a GREAT choice, helps students develop a Christian world-view, and is more affordable than most people think.
• Our Grace family experienced a wonderful time of corporate worship in our recent “Night of Worship."
• Pastor Craig continued teaching through the Book of John and laying foundations for personal discipleship in our youth ministry.
• The Spanish ministry started the renovations to the Upper Room, which will double their meeting space, add an office for Pastor Samuel and create storage space. Almost all of the work is being done by volunteers, and they hope to finish in the next couple of weeks!
• The Haitian ministry has now reopened all of their meeting times and returned to their normal pre-COVID schedule. This is a true blessing and folks continue to return to the campus.
• The Brazilian ministry hosted a yard sale to benefit missions on Saturday, Jan. 30 and it was followed by a time of fellowship.

There are also many things to celebrate in our school ministry: 

• Martha Canott recently told of a student who shared a Gospel tract resulting in a parent being saved.
• Monica Colon shared about a student who came to her stating that she wanted to be “born again.” The young lady prayed the sinners prayer and invited Jesus to be her Savior.
• Ruth Pirrie just launched a HUGE marketing campaign for the school, which includes a new website design and much, much more. You will begin seeing a whole new look in the weeks ahead.
• HCA has also entered the membership process with ACSI - Association of Christian Schools International. Our team continues to move HCA to new heights and we are already well-underway with enrollment for 2021-2022.
• Mr. Larry Smith has been chosen to serve as our new Head of School in the 2021-2022 school year, as Dr. Lawrence will be leaving us to serve as the Executive Vice-President at Louisiana Baptist University. We wish both of these men great success in the roles for which God has called them to and prepared them for.

Other January Blessings:

• Our missionary to Haiti, Kevin Falde, broke ground on a new church building this month.
• The Falde’s ministry also saw 600 people at their medical clinic, and 50 came to know Christ in the first 2 days!
• And get this… a dear friend of the Falde's, Bro. Samuel and his family, have started attending Grace and he has already jumped into serving with our band and worship team! Welcome Jacques family!
• We were also blessed through our Christmas offering that not only helped us “catch up” on missions giving, but even propelled us ahead of budget! Thank you for your faithfulness in supporting our missionary partners.

God continues to shower His blessings on our Grace & Highlands family! We just wanted to provide you with a brief report of “some” of the things HE is doing through you and your faithful support of this ministry.